Before Heroism v2
by Tails Luv-er
Summary: Ogilvie Maurice Hedgehog is a happy and hyper hedgehog living on Christmas Island, but when his mother dies in a house fire, he and his little brother are forced to live with his abusive uncle, Frank. What was Ogilvie Maurice "Sonic" Hedgehog's life like before he became a hero? Darkness and OC's ahead. XD
1. Chapter One

_Hihi! _^_^_ Guess who's here? It is moi! Yeah, I've been gone for a bit, but I'm back. I've had some major writer's block since November. I still do, actually, but this is actually a story that I had written a while back. I'm migrating this over from my Camobamo1 profile, and it's a rewrite of a story that I had written in March of last year. There's no yaoi for a while in here, and where I'm planning to put it, there's only gonna be a bit of it, so you guys are gonna be reading a yaoi-less story from me. _XD _That doesn't happen very often. Anyway, enjoy the story, and I'm actually keeping my old author's notes just because._

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_Hello, hello, hello!_ ^_^_ I am back! Who's happy? I know I am! I'm finally here with the first chapter in the rewrite of _Sonic: Before Heroism_! Yay! So, this version is supposed to be a lot darker, and this time, it's narrated from Sonic's POV. I hope you enjoy!_

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Before Heroism

Chapter One

Ugh… School… Why does it have to be a school day? I wanna be at home right now, relaxing… and instead I have to sit through a whole eight hours of school… Oh, well! At least my mom said my best friend can come over after school! I at least have that to look forward to!

I get to the outside of the school building, and a vermillion raccoon is waiting right there for me. Meet my best friend, Vermillion, everyone! Or should I say Milly. He likes to be called Milly.

"Hey, Milly!"

He turns his head to me and looks at me with his blue eyes before smiling. "Hey, Ogie!"

"Ya glad it's Friday? I know I am 'cause you get to come over tonight!"

Somehow, his smile grows even wider. "She said yes? That's great!"

"Yup! We're so playing some _Melee_ when we get home!" _Super Smash Bros. Melee_ is one of our favorite games to play. Milly almost always wins, but I still think it's fun.

"So… Er… Did you, by chance, do the math homework?" I ask with a sheepish grin on my face.

The vermillion raccoon chuckles. "Lemme guess, you didn't do it."

"Nope! Could you give me the answers? Please? Pretty please?"

He shakes his head, and I already know his answer before he says, "No, Ogilvie. I may be your friend, but that doesn't entail that I'll give you my answers. It's your own fault you didn't do the homework."

"Oh, come on! Just this once? I promise to do it from now on!"

"No means no." Aww, man… And I was really hoping he'd give in. Then again, he _is_ Milly. He's not one to give in to other people's desires unless he agrees with them. That's one of the things I like about him. "And besides, I know you'll still forget it every once in a while, anyway. You always have even after you've promised that you wouldn't."

"You know me too well."

"And that's a bad thing why?"

"I'm not saying it's a bad thing. I'm just saying that it can be annoying."

Just then, the bell rings, which means we've got five minutes to get to our classroom. We start walking up there, and I ask Milly, "So, what about you? Has anybody tried to adopt you this week?" Milly's an orphan. His parents left him and his late twin brother on the steps of an orphanage with only their names on notes. It's kinda sad, really, that he never knew his parents.

He shakes his head in reply to my question. "Unfortunately not, and at nine years old, I'm starting to get to the age that people don't really want to adopt at. It stinks that I might never have a real family…"

I put my arm around his shoulder. "Hey, you've got me, Sam, and my parents. Even though we can't adopt you, we still think of you as family." I really wish we could adopt him. Heck, getting to see my best friend every day would be awesome, but my mom is already having a tough time as it is, since she has to support me and my little brother, Sam, with a meager job.

He smiles. "I know. No use in getting depressed, huh?"

I nod. "Right. Like I always say, be happy; it's the secret to all life's problems."

We soon make it to class, and we sit down in our assigned seats. I look up at the board, and it's just my luck that the first subject today is math. How awesome… The bell rings, and the boring school day begins…

~Before Heroism~

I sigh in relief as Milly and I walk out of the school building. "Boy, am I glad that's over. I hate Social Studies. It's so boring."

"Ogie, you think everything that has to do with school is boring except PE."

"And? I'd rather run than learn about the history of Christmas Island and the United Federation." Running is one of my favorite things to do _ever_. It clears my mind and helps me feel better when I'm having a rough time.

"It's important to know all that stuff."

"Says who?"

"Says anyone who wants to be successful when they get into high school and college."

"Dude, high school is six years away. Why would I be worrying about that now?" Focus on the here and the now. Don't think too much about the future and don't dwell on the past. That's what my dad always tells me.

"You've got a good childhood ahead of you," he usually says. "Make good use of it." I admire my father, but he's not home that often, so I don't get to see him too much. I wish I did… He's in the United Federation Army, and he's gone for long periods of time, sometimes even months, and what's worse is that the country's at war right now, so he can't come home… I miss him…

I guess my face is showing what I'm thinking about, because Milly asks, "Ogie, are you okay? You don't look too good."

"Yeah, I'm fine. I'm just thinking about my dad. That's all."

"Don't worry about it. I'm sure he'll come back unscathed in no time."

After he says that to me, I hear someone shout, "Hey, Ogie! Wait up!" I turn around to see my little brother, Sam, running toward the two of us. You probably wouldn't guess that the two of us are related since we don't look anything alike. I have blue fur, and he has brown fur. Even our eye color isn't the same; I have green eyes, and he has blue eyes. My parents don't have blue fur, either, although my dad has green eyes. They say that my blue fur is a mutation of some sort. Cool mutation, if you ask me.

"Heya, li'l bud!" I exclaim as he catches up with us.

He smiles at me and looks at me with almost pure admiration as he says, "I drew a picture for you!"

"Really? Well, let's see it." He nods and sets his backpack on the ground before digging through it and pulling out a piece of art paper. On the paper is a blue hedgehog with green eyes smirking in front of a trashed robot. The title of the piece is apparently "Sonic the Hedgehog".

"I think that's what you'd be like if you were a superhero, big brother!" He points to the title. "That'd be your name, 'cause you're really fast." What he means by really fast is that I can run several hundred miles an hour. I don't know why or how I can do that, but it's nice being able to run that fast.

I ruffle the fur on the top of Sam's head and reply, "Aww, thanks, li'l bud!" as he chuckles. "Now, let's head home. I'm sure mom would love to see that picture."

"'Kay!" Soon after he says that, right as we're about to start walking, a small teal hedgehog dressed in a black t-shirt and shorts runs up to us. His name is Max, and he's our next-door neighbor and one of Sam's classmates in the first grade class. He's a shy li'l guy who has Asperger's syndrome. It's some form of autism.

"C-c-can I… w-w-w-walk home with… with you guys?" He stutters a lot, and he isn't good in social situations. His eye contact is almost nonexistent, too, but he's still a sweet kid.

"Of course," I reply. "You don't need to ask." And that makes four of us now. Pretty big crowd just for walking home. Oh, well.

As we approach the house, though, it smells like a campfire almost. I don't know who'd be camping this far into the city, but they surely wouldn't light a fire in the middle of September during the afternoon. People sure are a mystery to me. We keep getting closer, and it becomes clear that the smell is coming from the direction of our house, or at least our block. Soon enough, we arrive on our block, and I see a house on fire a little ways up…

Wait a second… Isn't that…? "Oh, my God… That's our house!"

All of us rush up to the house, and I'm the first one there… Oh, God… Oh, God… No… I begin to hear sirens in the distance. Someone must've already called 911. Thank Chaos, but… I think… I think our mom… I think she's still in there! My worries are confirmed when I hear a loud cough coming from inside the house. "Mom!" I scream at the top of my lungs, and I'm about to rush in there, but I feel someone grab my arm. "The heck?! Milly?! What are you doing?! My mom's in there! She's in the fire!" I struggle against his grasp, but I can't break free.

"I realize that, but you're not going in there!"

"I have to! She's probably trapped in there with no way to get out! I'm not gonna just stand here and let her die!" I have to get in there! I just have to! There's no way I'm gonna sit on my butt and wait for some miracle to happen!

"There's not much you can do! Not without putting yourself in the same risk that she's in!"

I keep struggling. "I get that, but I. Don't. Care! Now lemme go!" Finally, I manage to break free and rush inside the house.

"Ogie! Get back out here, you idiot! Ogilvie!" Sorry, Milly, but I can't just sit back. As I get into the house, I can almost immediately feel the searing heat from the flames surrounding me.

"Mom!" I call, inhaling smoke as I do. "Mom!" I start coughing a bit as I wander through the house, trying to make my way through it without coming in direct contact with the fire, although that's a difficult task. "Mom, where are you?!" I can barely see anything. The smoke is making my eyes tear up like crazy, and my lungs are starting to get a bit too much of that same smoke in them.

After a minute or two of walking around, I hear a sequence of loud coughs coming from my parents' room upstairs. That must be her! I rush up the stairs, thankful to finally know where she is, but I end up tripping on the stairs… Oh, my God! Did I just land on fire?! This hurts like nothing else that I've ever felt! I start patting myself on the stomach as I cry out in pain, but without any protection on my hands, I don't manage to snuff the fire out without burning them, too…

Tears caused by both pain and smoke are welling up so much in my eyes that I can only see blurs. When I arrive in my parents' room, I see my mom half sitting, half laying on the floor with fiery debris blocking her way to the stairwell. "Mom!"

She looks up at me, just as teary-eyed as I am. "Ogilvie… You need to get…" she starts coughing for about five seconds, "out… out of here… I'm not… gonna be able to make it, honey…"

"What…? What are you… talking about, Mom? Of course… you're gonna make it… You've gotta…!" She can't give up like that. She just can't…

"Take care of… little Sammy… Okay, big boy…?"

"Mom, I'm not leaving without you…!" I start coughing for a good few seconds. I'm not gonna last much longer, and neither is she. I've gotta find some way to get her out of here.

"Ogie, you have to…" Her blue eyes look straight into my own green eyes, and the look she gives me… She knows she's not making it out of this alive… Why…? Why on Mobius is this happening…?! I know that my mom's about to die, but I can't do a single thing about it! I'm so useless! I'm a useless eight-year-old kid who can't do a damn thing to save his own mother!

Before I can even say good-bye, a piece of the roof collapses in on the house, and it falls right on her… "MOM!" I scream as loudly as I can, but my voice is so hoarse that I can barely manage to get it out…

I need to get out of here, now… She wanted me to be safe… I run down the stairs, but I trip once again, and… Oh, my head… Jeez… That… hurt…

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"Whoa! Hey, this kid is still alive!"

"What? O-Ogie's still alive!"

These people sound surprised and overjoyed… and I think one of them is Sam… Why are they so happy? What happened…? I feel so woozy… I try to open my eyes, but I can't seem to… Jeez, what on Mobius happened…? I'm so confused right now… And I can feel myself slipping back into unconsciousness…

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_So? How'd ya like it? Was it good? I hope it was! I put a lot of effort into this one! Well, hopefully this story will be seeing much more frequent updates than I've been giving you lately. See ya next time! Auf wiedersehen!_

-Camobamo1

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_So, I pretty much would have put the same spiel here as on my old A/N._ XD_ Auf wiedersehen!_

-Tails Luv-er


	2. Chapter Two

_Hihi! _^_^ _I'm back with another chappy, everyone. _:)_ I hope you like this one!_

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_Hello, hello, hello!_ ^_^_ Here I am with the next chapter in the revision of _Sonic: Before Heroism_! You guys can probably tell that the story's gonna be a bit different since Sam lived this time around. I hope you guys like it!_

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Chapter Two

Ugh… What… happened? I'm so… so tired… I feel like I was just hit by a truck or something. God, I hurt… I have no clue what went on to make me feel so horrible… and on top of all the pain, I seriously feel like I'm gonna puke… I open my eyes, and I'm almost blinded by the light that's in this room. Once my eyes adjust, I look over to the source of the light to my right. There's a large window there, and the sun is shining almost directly in here through it. I think it's sunrise or something.

I also hear a slow beeping… What is that sound? It's really steady… Like a heartbeat… What is that? I look up to my left to see a computer with waves and a number above it. It's something like one hundred twenty-four. The heck? Am I in a hospital or something? Why would I be in one? What happened to me? I look down in the direction of my feet and see three people sitting in the chairs in the room. Milly, Sam, and Max are sitting there, but they're all asleep. Did they stay here all… however long I was out? Was I hurt that bad?

I try to sit up, but my stomach… Jeez, it stings! I groan in extreme pain, and Sam seems to have heard me, because he lifts his head off Milly's shoulder and looks at me. "Ogie?" he sounds really tired. I don't blame him. After all, it's probably like seven o'clock. Then his eyes widen, and he nearly jumps out of his seat and rushes over to me, glomping me. "You're okay! I thought you were gonna be out for days!" And he starts crying. Why's he crying? Did I do something dangerous?

"What's wrong…? What happened to me?"

"Y-you mean you don't remember the fire? Or anything about it? Or what happened to Mom?"

Something happened to Mom?! "What do you mean? What happened to Mom?" And then my head starts aching. I bring my right hand up to my forehead and notice that there's an IV in there as well as bandages wrapped around it. There are also bandages around my head. What did I do?

"You okay?" he asks, his voice full of worry.

"I'm fine. Just a headache, that's all. Now what happened to Mom?" He's getting me really worried here…

"She… Um… She… The fire… There was a fire… at the house… and Mom… She was… She was…" More and more tears keep flowing from his eyes and down his face.

"She was what? You're scaring me, Sam!" I'm really terrified right now! I don't know what went on, but I… don't think it's good… Before I know it, he completely loses it and buries his face in my shoulder while still crying. I can feel his tears wetting down my fur. I start petting his head to try and get him to calm down. Whatever it is that's causing him this much grief, it must be terrible.

"Ogie, you're awake?" I take my eyes off my little brother and look over at the chairs again. Both Milly and Max are awake now, but it was Milly that spoke. I could tell by his voice. Max's voice isn't that loud.

"Yeah, I'm awake, and I hurt so much that it's not even funny. What on Mobius happened to make me get hurt this much… and do I have a concussion?"

"You mean… you don't remember anything…? What's the last thing you remember?" He gets up and walks over to me, and I can still hear Sam sobbing onto my shoulder.

"Well, I guess the last thing… is Sam showing me that picture that he drew of me… The one that said 'Sonic the Hedgehog' on it… I know something probably happened, but… what? I have a feeling it's not good."

The vermillion raccoon sighs. "This isn't easy to say, but… there was a fire at your house… probably started by an arsonist… and your mom was stuck in there…" I can see tears welling up in his sky blue eyes, and he's not one to cry. "You ran in there to try and save her… I tried to stop you, but you went in anyway… I don't know what happened in the house, but it burnt down with you inside it, and you were hurt pretty bad. You had a large gash on your head, and your stomach and hands were covered with third degree burns. They said that your lungs were filled with so much carbon monoxide that it's a miracle you survived, and they said with the giant gash on your head that you probably hit your head so hard you're lucky you don't have brain damage…"

Wow… I sure was hurt… "But what about my mom? What happened to her?"

Tears start dripping from his eyes. "She… didn't make it out… I'm sorry, Ogilvie…"

Tears start forming in my own eyes as well. "No… No, that can't be true… You're lying… You've gotta be lying…"

"I-I'm not lying!"

Sam lifts his head from my shoulder and looks me in the eye. "He's telling the truth… She never came out of the house…"

No… How…? Why…? Why did this have to happen? I close my eyes for a second, and the tears that had accumulated in my eyes stream down my face. "Goddammit…!" After I shout that, Sam gasps. I don't think he's ever heard me swear. Heck, I think I've only sworn once or twice in my entire life… but I don't know what else to do right now… I mean, my mother is… dead… She's dead and she's not coming back…! "Dammit, dammit, dammit! Why the hell did this happen?!"

"Calm down, Ogilvie," says Milly as soothingly as he can. "Swearing about it isn't going to help anything."

"Well, what else do you want me to do?! Just sit back and act like this never happened?! That's easy for you to say! You're not the one who just lost his mom! You don't even know what it's like!"

As rare as it is for him to get cross with somebody, he narrows his eyes slightly and sternly replies, "You know as well as I do that I know what it's like. I lost my brother two years ago, and your mother was the closest thing I had to one besides Mrs. Mutti. You, Sam, and I have all lost someone important to us, so quit your whining and stop acting like you're the only one suffering here." I hit a nerve there… and an already damaged one, at that…

I sigh. He has a very good point… "You're right… Sorry… I just… I just don't know what to do… I mean… I don't even know what the heck happened… All I have to go off of is what you told me… so I don't even know all of what happened, and I know nothing about what happened inside the house… I'm just not sure if I have a way to cope." I really don't think I honestly have a way to cope… I mean I've never had to cope with anything like this. I don't have a coping mechanism built into me.

"Don't worry, Ogie. I'm sure you'll find a way through it." And he smiles at me. I don't think he's angry anymore. It's rare to see him angry, but even rarer to see him stay that way.

After that, I hear Max mumble, "Oh, yeah…" And he gets up and makes his way over here. "They found this after the fire…" He hands me a picture with slightly charred edges. Just by glancing at it, I'm surprised it survived the fire. I look at the photo, and it's one of me, my mom, my dad, and Sam. It was the last family picture we took. It was my eighth birthday and the week before my father was deployed. My dad… I hope now more than ever that he'll come back soon.

Sam must be a mind-reader, because he asks, "Do you think dad will be home soon?"

"I dunno, li'l bro… I hope, but I dunno." Well, the uncertainty of that isn't very assuring… I guess he and I'll just have to continue to hope. Speaking of Sam… while I'm here in the hospital, where's he gonna stay? "Hey, Milly, do you know where Sam's gonna stay while I'm recovering?"

He nods. "I talked to Mrs. Mutti, and she said that he can stay at the orphanage until you guys find out what's gonna happen."

I sigh. That's a relief. It'll be one less thing on my mind when I'm here all alone at night. Well, I'd best prepare myself… This is gonna be one long couple of days…

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"What?! No, no, no! You can't make us live with hi—GAH!" Jeez… How much can my head hurt…? But seriously, they can't make us live with him… They just can't. I mean, he's a drunkard!

"I'm sorry, Mr. Hedgehog, but he's the only close relative you have here on Christmas Island, and he has no previous offenses for anything such as driving under the influence or things related to alcohol."

"I don't give a damn! We're not staying with him!" No matter what that man says, I'm not letting Sam near our uncle. Frank is a bad man, I tell you. A bad man. I had to stay with him for a day one time, and he gave me a black eye for bringing him the wrong kind of pop… He's the devil incarnate.

"I'm afraid you don't have much of a choice in the matter. He'll be picking you up around five o'clock this afternoon." The human man who was just telling me that walks out of the room without saying anything else.

"For God's sake… First Mom dies, and now I have to live with Frank. How much worse can this get?" As if on cue, Milly walks, or rather fast walks, in the room with a look of urgency on his face and a newspaper in his grasp.

"Ogie, you won't believe what they think Max did!" he exclaims, not quite loudly enough for it to be a shout, but it sounds serious enough to be one.

"What do they think Max did?" I ask, still kinda depressed at what just happened. "It can't be that bad, Milly." I reach over to the glass of water by my bed and take a drink.

"But it is! They think he murdered his parents!" And at that, I almost do a spit tank with the water in my mouth, but I swallow it.

"They think he did what now?!" My head starts aching once again, and I bring my hand up to my head and close my eyes for a second.

"You okay, Ogie?"

"I'm fine. What happened with Max?" I can't believe they think he killed his parents. I mean, there's no way. There's just no way. He's not like that.

"Well, apparently, one of your guys' neighbors had heard gunshots being fired from inside Max's house, but nobody saw anybody come out of the house after they were. They called the police, and when they arrived, they saw Max repeatedly punching a bloodied man out of some kind of negative emotion; they couldn't tell if it was anger, fear, sorrow, or anything else. His parents were dead, along with two other men that they couldn't quite identify. When they approached Max, he seemed to snap out of some sort of trance and looked at a police officer before glancing back at the body he was on top of and screaming.

"He nearly jumped off the body and backed up to a wall, where he started crying. They say he kept saying the phrase 'happy place'. When the police once again tried to approach him, he backed further away begging for them not to hurt him, and when they started to get closer again, he ran off. No one knows where he went to after that, but they found a gun at the scene of the crime, and it had Max's fingerprints on it."

"What on Mobius?" I ask out of astonishment. "Why do they think that he, of all people, would do something like that? Don't they know about his Asperger's syndrome? He'd be too scared to even handle a pistol. He had to have been set up."

"They're the police. I think anyone at the scene of a crime is a suspect to them…"

"It's not right. I don't care if they're the police or not. They need to have some common sense, because whatever Max was doing when he was in that trance, it wasn't something he would have done on his own."

"Yeah, but for now, I'm a bit more worried about you. Where are you gonna stay?"

"How can you worry about me and not Max at a time like this?"

"Because we can get the thing about Max sorted out later, so who are you staying with."

I sigh. I don't even want to think about it… "Frank… My goddamn drunkard of an uncle…"

Milly sighs, too. "First of all, would you quit swearing so much? I can't count how many swearwords you've said in the past few days. Second, he can't possibly be that bad."

"Easy for you to say. You haven't met him, and you should be glad as hell you haven't. He's such a bastard."

"Would you stop swearing?"

"Sorry, but I just don't wanna think of better words right now. Besides, he is one." I'm telling the truth. He is one sick bastard.

He kneads his forehead. "Okay, I'll let your annoying swearing go for now, but is he seriously that horrible?"

I roll my eyes and say in a sarcastic voice, "No, I'm just exaggerating because I'm so not worried for Sam." I resume my normal voice. "Like hell I'm not… I'm more worried for him than I've ever been. If I'm not there to protect him every second of the day, he's gonna get it something fierce from Frank…" I look around, and Sam's not here right now. Odd… "Speaking of Sam… where is he?"

"He's getting your guys' new stuff ready. Mrs. Mutti and I went and bought some new stuff for you, like jackets and coats for when it gets cold, new backpacks, a small suitcase for each of you, some new toothbrushes… That kinda stuff."

I smile a bit. At least we'll have our necessities. "Thanks, Milly."

He winks and gives me a thumbs-up, like I would normally do to him. "No prob, Ogie… So when are you leaving."

"Five o'clock."

He glances over at the clock on the wall. "You've still got a good hour and forty-five minutes before you have to go, and if he's as bad as you say, let's make the best of this time."

* * *

Well, it's 4:57 now. Sam arrived here about half an hour ago with our stuff, and Milly and I had spent all this time talking and cheering me up… Well, the most I can be cheered up anyway… Let's just say that I'm not looking forward to going with Frank… and I honestly think I'm about to break.

And I can't help but cry into Milly's shoulder when he hugs me. All of the emotion from this and the depression from losing my mom come flowing out at once. "I don't wanna go, Milly! I don't wanna deal with him!" I know he's probably thinking that I'm overreacting a bit too much, but he nevertheless runs his hand up and down my back, trying to calm me.

"It's okay, Ogie. It's okay. You'll get through it; I promise." After about a minute, he releases me, and after that, I see someone walk into the hospital, and what do ya know…? It's Frank…

That brown hedgehog is as repugnant-looking as I remember him, and he doesn't look like the kind of person that _anyone_ sensible would hang out with. He's wearing a stained white muscle shirt, a black leather jacket, and ripped blue jeans. He looks kinda like a gangster, actually. "C'mon, kids…" He grabs both me and Sam by the wrists and starts pulling us, and we barely have time to grab our suitcases.

"Bye, Milly!" I exclaim as I'm pulled out the door. He drags us through the parking lot with an iron grip on us. Jeez, he has strong hands. My wrist is seriously starting to hurt.

"Um, Uncle Frank, do you think you could let go? You're hurting me."

Apparently Sam's hurting, too, because he chimes in, "Please?"

He sighs and squeezes even harder, getting a yelp of pain from both of us. "Don't tell me what to do, you brats. I couldn't care less if I'm hurting you two or not. I'm very angry that you two just got dumped on me."

"So you're just gonna take it out on us?" I ask.

He squeezes increasingly harder on my wrist, and I start whimpering repeatedly in pain. "That's exactly what I'm gonna do. I never wanted two damn kids in my life. I never asked for this. My life's a shithole as it is. I don't need you two to make it worse."

After about half a minute more of pure torture, we make it to his truck, and he releases us from his grip, but not before slamming me into the truck right where my burns are, and I shout in pain. Out of the corner of my eye, I can see him smirk. That sadistic bastard… "Ogie, are you okay?" asks Sam worriedly.

I try to be as resilient as possible as I say, "I'm fine," and walk over to the passenger door and climb in. I'm gonna sit in the middle, 'cause I'm keeping Sam as safe as possible, and that means putting myself between Frank and him.

The whole car ride to the house is spent in silence. Frank is actually a better driver than I had expected, although he's still not very good. We make it there in one piece, and he parks in the driveway by a very small house. It's almost the size of a shack. I've been here before, but it looks even smaller now than it did then.

We follow Frank up to the house, and once I step inside, I'm immediately disgusted. It's a complete and utter pigsty in here. There are empty cans and beer bottles and food containers scattered across the floor. It just looks… horrible in here. He said that his life's a shithole… Well, his house is, too, but I'm not gonna say that to his face…

He walks over to one of the couches and lifts off the cushions before pulling out a bed. "You'll sleep on this." He then digs out two pillows and a decently sized blanket. "And you'll get these to sleep with. And don't even think about going to sleep now, because you're gonna have to do some work… Now get me a beer!"

I'm not gonna let Sam touch one of those or get close to Frank, so I walk over to the fridge and get one, and I make a silent promise to make sure Sam doesn't get harmed for however long we stay here.

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_Well, what'd ya think? Is it better than the first one? I really hope so! I'm putting so much effort into this to try and make it a million times better. Looking back on the original makes me feel like I was so mediocre back then, and I thought I was on top of the world! _XD_ Well, that's all I have to say right now, and please review! Do you guys not love me anymore or something? _T_T

-Camobamo1

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_Okay, so I wasn't getting very many reviews on my other profile when I posted this up there. _^_^'_ At least I'll probably get more on here. Well, auf wiedersehen!_

-Tails Luv-er


	3. Chapter Three

_Hello! So, here's the third chapter. Sorry about it taking me a while to upload it. I kept forgetting. _^_^'

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_Hey!_ ^_^ _How's everyone? Good, I hope. Okay, I have the third chapter of _Before Heroism_ for you guys! I really hope you like it!_

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Chapter Three

"C'mon, Sam. We need to get going." I can't wait to get outta here. I've only been here for one night, and it's already horrible. My little brother nods at me, and we're about to walk out the door, but Frank grabs the handle of my backpack.

"Get me a Mountain Dew, kid! I need my caffeine!" Aw, jeez… He's too demanding… This has to be the… Well, I don't know what number this is of stuff he's asked me to get for him, but it's not a low number, especially if I've lost count.

I walk over to his fridge and take out a Mountain Dew before walking over to him with it. "Here's your pop, Frank." I hand it to him, and all he does after that is point us out the door. Thank Chaos. We can leave. I grab Sam's hand and lead him out the door with me. He's staying as close to me as possible. I'm not letting him out of my sight till we're at school… and even then I'll probably be hesitant.

"Make sure you stay with me, 'kay?" I'm pretty sure that worry is very evident in my voice.

He looks at me kinda funny before he replies, "Okay…" He's silent for a few seconds. "Are you okay, Ogie?"

"I'm fine."

"You keep saying that… Are you really fine?"

"I said I'm fine, Sam!" I yell, and he recoils a bit. "Look, I'm sorry, but I'm having a hard time right now."

"I know, but still… Can't you tell me if you're not fine?"

"You make it sound so easy…" And the rest of the walk is spent in silence. That's probably the longest he and I have gone without talking to each other when we're on a walk.

When we arrive at the school, he starts to walk into the building and over to his class, but I stop him and hug him. "Stay safe, okay? Make sure you don't do anything dangerous or anything like that."

"Ogie, it's just school. I'll be fine."

"Still… You can't do anything that could get you hurt… Promise me you won't get hurt."

"Ogie—"

"Promise!" Tears are starting to come out of my eyes. I can't lose him, too… He's my responsibility now, and until Dad comes home, I'm gonna make sure he's as safe as possible.

"I promise… Now could you let go, please? This is getting a bit embarrassing." I let him go, albeit reluctantly, and see that his cheeks are slightly red. He starts going to class, but before he actually does, he turns around and waves at me. "Bye, Ogie! See ya later! And cheer up!"

"He's right," I hear from behind me. "You do need to cheer up, and I swear you've been almost glued to him for the past few days."

"And?" I ask as I turn around to face Milly, who was just speaking. "You realize that I'm holding on by a thread and that he's that thread, right?"

He sighs, and a couple seconds after he does so, his mouth goes slightly agape. "Oh, God! What happened to your eye? A-and your arms?"

He walks up to me and lifts up my left arm, and I can see the bruises on there as he does, still fresh from last night. I quickly pull my arm away, though. "I don't wanna talk about it." And I really don't. It's not fun to even remember, and if I had to tell about it…

"C'mon, you can tell me."

"I said no, Milly!" I snap. These past few days have made me really irritable. "I said I don't wanna talk about it! Just leave me alone!"

I run away from him and go up to class, and when I arrive, I go and sit down in one of the empty seats in the back. My teacher doesn't care where we sit as long as we're paying attention… and I could actually not care less about paying attention right now. I just wanna be alone, for Chaos' sake…

In about a minute… or so… I don't know how long exactly, I hear Milly say, "Ogie, what's wrong?" Apparently he's up here now.

"I said that I don't wanna talk about it, so just leave me alone… Just go…" I lift my head up for a second, and he's about to sit down next to me. "I told you to go… Don't sit by me… I don't want to deal with you right now… I don't wanna deal with anyone right now…"

"But I just wanna he—"

"I don't care if you wanna help! You have no idea what it's like to spend even a day with Frank! You have no idea what it takes to protect your little brother from someone like him! So just leave me be! I need to be alone! Or as alone as I can get!" I look around and see all the students staring at me. "What the hell are you staring at?!"

I think I'm about to cry… I just… I just don't know what to do right now… "A-are you all right? And don't just tell me you're fine, either."

I can't hold back my tears as I say, "Okay, you wanna know? No, I'm not all right. I'm not fine. I can't handle all this… So please, I just need to be alone… Please…"

He sighs. "All right… I'll leave you alone for now… But I want an answer to my question at lunch."

And he walks over to his desk… I know he just wants to help… and I know he cares about me a lot… but I just can't… I can't talk about it like it's nothing…

I put my head back down, and after I do, I can hear someone talking. It sounds like another one of my friends, Liz. She's a purple cat with long hair. "Milly, what happened to him?"

"He won't tell me," answers the vermillion raccoon. "I don't know what happened to him between yesterday and today, but whatever did…" he pauses, "it's not good… Y'know, I just wanna comfort him, but will he even let me do that? No."

"I'm sure he'll come around. After all, he _is_ Ogie. He's not going to stay like this forever."

"But what if he does, Liz? What if this is his breaking point?

"Then I'm sure we'll find some way to get him back to normal… or as close to it as we can."

I tune out the rest of their conversation… I can't listen to them anymore… Until lunch, I just sit at my desk with my head in my arms, and the teacher surprisingly doesn't say anything the whole time… I think she probably knows what happened to my mom… News travels fast on a small island like Christmas Island…

When I'm in the lunch room, I go and sit at the table I normally sit at after getting my lunch, and Milly and Liz are already sitting there.

Liz smiles at me. "Hey!" I sit down and don't talk to her. I just start poking at the meatballs in my spaghetti with my fork. "C'mon, won't you talk at all?" I stab one of the meatballs with my fork and eat it without answering her. I'm not in the mood to talk.

"See what I mean? He's basically been destroyed…" says Milly. He turns his head to face me. "Look, we just want to know what happened. That's all. Can't you tell us?" No, I can't… I can't tell them… If I did, they wouldn't understand… They wouldn't understand why I'm so scared of telling them… If I told them, everything would be ruined even more than it already is…

I shake my head and continue eating. "Can you at least talk to us if it's not about that?" asks Liz. I look up at her. "Please?"

"I guess…" I answer. "There's not much else to talk about, though…" I don't know what else to do right now… I can't tell them about this… I really wish I could, but…

"So," starts Liz, "how's Sam doing with all of this?"

I take another bite of my spaghetti before responding, "He's handling it better than I am, if that's what you're wondering… but he's still now handling it the best… I saw him break down and cry yesterday, and I just… I just… don't know what to do…" Tears start coming out of my eyes. I can't think of him crying, or it'll only make me cry…

I quickly wipe away my tears and start stuffing my face to try and hide my sad expression. "We need to do something about this, Ogie…"

I stop shoveling food into my mouth and look up at Milly. "About what?" I know he can see right through my "playing dumb" ruse, but still…

"You know what I'm talking about. How you don't want to talk to us about whatever went on over the weekend. You're obviously hurt, judging from your black eye and the bruises up and down your arms, and there are probably more of those same blotches under your bandages. How did you get hurt?"

"I-I fell down some stairs and hit my eye on the railing, okay?" I stutter out quickly. Don't look at me like that, okay? I had to lie. I can't let him know. I quickly eat the rest of my food and get up to throw my tray away, and as I do, Milly gets up as well.

"C'mon, I know as well as you do that that's not the truth, otherwise you would've told me by now." I drop my tray in the trash can and run back to the table. I can't keep on avoiding this, so I'm gonna have to avoid him. He soon arrives at the table. "We're best friends. Why can't you tell me?"

I have to make up a reasonable lie and fast or I'm gonna spill the beans. "I accidentally ran out in front of a car…" I say, hoping he'll believe me. I really hope he does…

He stays silent for a few seconds before facepalming himself. "You're so clumsy, Ogie… I hope you don't have any fractured or broken bones. It's dangerous to go across the street without looking, even at your speed." Wait, he believed me? He actually believed that poorly constructed lie of mine?

"I-I know," I reply, kind of astounded at how easily he'll believe what I say.

"Be more careful in the future… and I can't believe you were this nervous about telling me that. I mean, yeah, you probably realized I was going to give you a talking-to, but are you seriously that afraid of my lectures? They aren't that bad, are they?"

"Well…" starts Liz.

"Don't say anything. My lectures are not bad. I give them for good reasons." Well, this is just a tiny bit entertaining. It actually cheers me up a little as they keep arguing about Milly's lectures. I get through recess and the second half of the day without any more outbursts, but as soon as I see Sam, I run over to him and look him over.

"Are you okay? Any cuts? Bruises? Anything?" I ask worriedly as I keep scanning over his body.

"O-Ogie, I'm fine. Don't you think you're obsessing just a bit?"

"No, you have to stay as safe as possible." Well, it doesn't look like he's hurt. Thank Chaos.

"You are obsessing," states Milly simply.

"I already told you why I am, so don't get on me about it, okay?" I respond.

He sighs. "I know, but you might want to tone it down just a bit." He looks at his watch. "I've gotta get home. Be seeing you." He starts walking in the direction of the orphanage, which is in the opposite direction of Frank's house.

I then grab Sam's hand and start walking toward Frank's. "You know you don't have to hold my hand. I'm old enough to walk on my own."

"I know, Sam!" I snap. "I know… Just please let me. I don't want to lose you, too…"

"All right…"

I can't… I just can't lose him… Especially not after what happened last night… I didn't run in front of a car or anything like that… No, it was worse… Frank had gone to a bar last night, and unfortunately, we didn't expect him to come home as drunk as he was. God, it was a nightmare…

I was helping Sam out with some of the homework he missed while waiting for me to get better, and things were going pretty well till Frank showed up drunker than a sailor. I thought he was walking over to his couch, but then he started stumbling in the direction of the "dining room" table—the dining room, living room, and kitchen are all one room—and when he arrived, he hit me straight in the eye, knocking me off my chair.

"Chaos, what was that for?!" I exclaimed.

He grinned lopsidedly at me. "'Cause I felt like it, bitch!" And then he kicked me straight in the crotch.

As I was recovering from the pain caused to me, I looked over and saw him stumbling toward Sam. "Oh, no you don't!" Completely ignoring the pain from both my eye and my area, I stood up and tackled him, and with my speed on my side, I was able to knock him down despite the fact that he was much taller than I. "You won't hurt him!" I punched him right in the face as hard as I could, and I actually got his nose to start bleeding. I felt accomplished for a couple seconds… until he punched back right in my stomach.

"If I don't hurt him, I hurt you twice as much. Got it?!"

I looked up at him and narrowed my eyes as angrily as I could. "Bring it on, bastard. You can do whatever you want to me. Just don't hurt him."

He chuckled at me. "You've got yourself a deal, kid." And he started beating on me with his fists… I don't even want to think about how much it hurt… I felt so powerless, too, but I couldn't let him lay a finger on Sam… I needed to protect my little brother at all costs…

When he was done with me, he stood up and wiped the red blood from his still bleeding nose before smirking at me once again. "That felt good. Have fun with those bruises, kid."

I felt my eyes watering… It hurt so much… So much… I looked over at Sam, and he looked devastated… He was already crying… "O-Ogie… You're hurt… A lot…" was all he was able to get out before he jumped out of his chair and ran over to me. He scanned me over before he started crying even more. "So many bruises…"

He immediately hugged me after he said that, and he choked out in between sobs, "We've… we've g-g-gotta tell… someone… about this…"

I was about to say that we should, but Frank yelled, "You tell anyone and you're dead, pipsqueak!"

"B-but we've still… gotta—"

I shook my head. "We can't, bud… He'll find out… and then you'll be gone, too… And you can't go… If anyone asks tomorrow, just don't say anything… Promise me you won't say anything…"

"But I—"

"Promise!" And he promised he wouldn't tell anybody… I have to keep him safe at all costs, even if it means that my own safety will be gone… because he's more important to me than my own life…

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_So...? How is it compared to the original? Please leave feedback! Please, please, please! I'm begging you! _XO

-Camobamo1

_All right, that was the third chapter!_ ^_^ _Yeah, it's sad, but hey, Sam is still alive... for now._ ^_^'

-Tails Luv-er


	4. Chapter Four

_All right, fourth chapter, right here. Getting closer to the sixth chapter that some of you have been waiting for. _^_^

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_Hello, hello, hello! _^_^ _It's only been a couple of days, and I've already got the next chapter of the story for you guys! It's really sad, though._

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Chapter Four

It's cold right now… Frank's damn heater doesn't work… I'm holding Sam close to me to keep him warm, and he coughs before nuzzling his head into my chest. The poor guy has been coughing a lot for the past week or so… He started coughing up phlegm about a day in, too… I really hope he's not getting something serious… I really do…

He sits up quickly and starts coughing again, this time harder than the last. He puts his hand up to his mouth, and he sounds like he's hacking stuff up. When he takes his hand away, he looks at it, and his mouth goes agape. "O-Ogie…" He sounds really worried…

I sit up as well. "What's wrong?"

"W-why is this red? Th… That isn't blood… is it?" I look more closely at his hand, and I see red splotches on it… Oh, no… No, no, no… I don't wanna worry him, though…

"D-don't worry about it. Just go wash your hands and try to get some sleep, okay?" He slowly nods and gets up, walking over to the sink and running the water. I watch him as he washes his hands clean of the bloody phlegm… Chaos, I can't believe he's getting sick enough to cough up blood…

He walks back over here and rapidly gets back under the covers. "It's cold when you're not under the blanket. Like really cold… It feels like it's zero degrees…"

But it's only twenty degrees out… He starts nuzzling even closer to me as I feel his forehead. Oh, jeez… He's burning up… "Just try to get some sleep. I'll keep you warm." He nods and starts coughing a little more, but thank goodness he's not hacking anything up this time… I just want him to be okay. Please, even if I end up getting sick, I just want him to be all right after this.

After about twenty minutes, I think he's finally dozed off, but I can't fall asleep. I'm haunted by what might happen to him. If this is the illness I think it is, then he's in some real danger. If this is tuberculosis, like I think it is, then he might end up… I can't even think about it… For Chaos' sake, he can't die! He's the only one I have left, and I've pretty much given up hope that my father will ever come home! Just please let him be okay! If there's any type of god up there, could you please listen to me?!

Please… I need him…

* * *

I'm woken up by a large fit of coughing… Oh, no… I open my eyes as quickly as I can and see Sam standing over the sink, coughing up more bloody phlegm… He soon stops coughing and falls on his butt before starting to shiver. I hurriedly rush over there and wrap the blanket around him before rubbing his back.

"It hurts… It hurts every time I cough… Why does it hurt so much… and why am I coughing up blood? A-am I dying, Ogie? I don't wanna die…"

I can feel a couple tears accumulate in my eyes. I can't believe he just asked that… "Don't be stupid, Sam! Of course you're not dying! You're just sick, okay?! You'll recover in a week or so and be back on your feet! Don't say or think things like that!" I'm lying to both him and myself, unfortunately… His symptoms are really bad… I'm really not sure if he's gonna make it, but I have to hope that he is.

"But I feel horrible… Do I have to go to school today?" Did he seriously just ask if he has to go to school? I thought it was a given that he didn't have to.

"No, you don't. C'mon, I'll take you over to Milly's and have them take care of you for the day."

"But it's only seven…"

I glance up at the clock, and it reads 7:03. "That's fine. I'm sure Mrs. Mutti is up by now, and maybe even Milly is, too." He nods before getting up and walking over to get his coat on, but he walks so slowly… Maybe he's disoriented from all the coughing he did… He slips it on over his arms before zipping it up, and then he slips his shoes on. I walk over and do the same, but I grab my backpack as well.

However, he starts walking out the door, and I stop him before he does. "You're not walking there. I'm not letting you exert yourself any more than you have to." He starts to protest, but before he can even get a word out, I pick him up and carry him out the door.

"Y-you don't have to carry me. I-I can wa—" Before he can even finish his sentence he starts coughing again, and after he's done, he spits some phlegm over my shoulder.

"You're not walking when you're like this. I know you don't wanna burden me, but you're really not. You're my li'l bro, after all."

I can't see, but I think he's smiling at me. "Thanks." And after he says that, I start running as fast as I can toward the orphanage that Milly lives in. When I arrive there in a couple minutes, I knock on the door, and after a few seconds, a stout human lady with brown hair and glasses opens the door.

"Oh, Ogilvie! And Samuel! What a nice surprise!" she exclaims while smiling..

"Hey, Mrs. Mutti," I reply as I smile back. She's the nice lady who runs the orphanage. She's almost like a second mother to me.

"Come in, come in. It's freezing out there." She motions with her hand for us to do the same thing she was just saying, and I walk in before setting Sam down on the ground. "May I ask why you were carrying Samuel?"

"Well, Sam is kinda sick…" I respond. "He's been coughing a lot… and last night he started coughing up… um… Well, he started coughing up blood…"

"Oh, my goodness!" she exclaims worriedly. "How did he catch something so dreadful?!"

"I think it has something to do with how Frank's heater doesn't work. He's been trying to save up money to get it fixed, though." Well, I'm glad I didn't have to make up a lie for that one…

"Well, I hope your uncle can get the money for that. It's supposed to be extremely cold this winter." Yeah, and with the three months I've spent with him, it's made me doubt that he could ever save that much money.

"I do, too…" I pause for a second before asking, "So, I was wondering if it'd be okay if Sam were to stay here today instead of going to school. He's not in any condition to be doing anything more than resting."

Mrs. Mutti nods. "Of course. I'd be happy to let him stay here. It just so happens that we have an extra bed open."

"What about having an extra bed open?" I look over to the staircase and see Milly walking down it, stretching his arms and yawning as he does. He must have just woken up. "Oh, hey, Ogie. Hey, Sam."

I wave to him before Mrs. Mutti answers, "Little Samuel here is very sick and needs to stay somewhere warm. I'm going to let him stay in the extra bed for today, and maybe even a couple days and nights afterward if it's necessary, in case their uncle's heater isn't fixed.

Milly just nods and walks over to the kitchen. I know he's not one to communicate much when he just wakes up. "All right, honey," starts Mrs. Mutti, "why don't you go upstairs and lay down. You need the rest, and I'm sure you'd love a warm bed after being without a heater… but let me get you a bowl first, just in case you need to cough anything up." She quickly walks into the kitchen and grabs a plastic bowl from a cabinet before she walks back over and gives it to Sam. "Now go upstairs, dear. You need plenty of rest."

My little brother nods, but he doesn't go upstairs till he says, "Bye, Ogie. See you in the afternoon." And then he walks up the stairs before disappearing from my view.

"He's such an energetic child," states Mrs. Mutti. "Even when he's ill, he still acts like he's fine…" She pauses for a few seconds. "Have you had breakfast yet?" I haven't, actually. I shake my head. "Well, I'm going to make some here soon. Why don't you stay and have breakfast with us?"

Well, I haven't had her cooking in a while, and it _is_ pretty good. "All right."

She smiles. "All right, then. You can go talk to Vermillion for a bit while I prepare it. Get that boy to open up a bit in the morning."

And so I walk over to the kitchen and sit next to the vermillion raccoon. "Heya, Milly."

He slightly waves his hand and says weakly, "Hey…"

"What's wrong? Didn't get much sleep?"

He yawns loudly before answering, "Not really… So what's up with Sam? What's he sick with?"

I hesitate a bit to answer… I don't really want to think about the illness that might end up causing him death… "Umm… Well, I think it's tuberculosis…" As soon as I say that, his ears perk up, and he looks straight at me. "He's been coughing up blood and all that…"

"Y-you're sure?" he asks. "'Cause tuberculosis is really serious."

"Unfortunately, I'm sure… With how hard he's been coughing, and how tired and cold he's been, I can't think of anything else it could be…"

"Well, that's not good. I hope he's gonna be okay."

"I do, too… I can't stand to lose him, too… I just can't…" This time, after the tears accumulate in my eyes, they start falling. "I can't lose him, Milly…"

He sighs. "You need a hug?" Yes, I need a hug… I nod, and he embraces me. He's so warm… I don't know how he can always be this warm… His hugs are comforting, to say the least.

After a minute, he releases me. "Okay, now how about we talk about happier subjects." I nod in agreement.

* * *

After we ate breakfast, Milly and I headed over to school. It was honestly a boringly normal day, but I couldn't stop thinking about Sam while I was there. His condition has me worried as hell… As soon as we get out, Milly and I rush right over to the orphanage, but when we get there, Mrs. Mutti isn't there, and neither is Sam. As I'm looking around the upper floor, I see someone else laying in a bed.

"Espio?" I ask. The purple chameleon looks over at me and smiles.

"Hello, Ogilvie."

"Why are you home, if I may ask?" I'm kinda curious as to why he's here.

"Oh, I wasn't feeling too well this morning… Are you looking for Sam and Mrs. Mutti?" I nod my head. "I hate to say it, but Sam's condition got worse. Mrs. Mutti had to take him to the hospital at around noon." My eyes widen at what he said. His condition… worsened? No… No, he can't be getting sicker…

"Are you gonna go over there, Ogie?" asks Milly.

"Of course I am, Milly! That's a stupid question!" Without even bothering to wait for him, I run as fast as I can over to the hospital.

When I arrive, I quickly ask the lady at the desk which room Sam is in, and she says he's all the way up on the eleventh floor. Oh, great… Well, I'm not waiting for an elevator to get me up there, so I run up the stairs all the way to floor eleven, and then I make my way over to Sam's room. When I get there, I see the little brown hedgehog laying asleep on a hospital bed, and Mrs. Mutti is holding his hand…

Oh, Chaos… He looks horrible… "He's been having a lot of trouble breathing…" says Mrs. Mutti, "and his cough has been getting worse…" She looks up at me, tears in her eyes, which is rare to see. "The doctors said that they don't think he's going to make it, Ogilvie…" What? They what? No… No, he has to make it… He can't die on me… Tears start flowing out of my eyes at high speeds, and Mrs. Mutti walks over to me before embracing me.

"No… He can't leave me… He can't die… I promised… I promised I would keep him safe… I promised him that he wouldn't die from this… I promised, Mrs. Mutti…"

I start crying even harder, and after I do, I hear, "Ogie?" along with a lot of hard breaths. I break out of Mrs. Mutti's hug and look over to the bed, and Sam's blue eyes are cracked open ever so slightly. I run over to the bed and start crying over him.

"Sam… How do you feel?"

"I can't breathe well," he responds, "and I've been coughing a lot more… Why are you crying? What's wro—" He starts coughing, and although it's a harsh cough, it's just a dry one this time. I start crying even more… His cough just sounds so… devastating to me… "W-why are you crying even more?"

I can't answer that truthfully… I can't let him know that he's going to die… I just can't… "Nothing, buddy." I wipe my tears away. "It's nothing…"

"Okay…" He says, trying to sound like he normally would when he thinks something more is up than I'm letting him know, but he lets it go. "How was school? Did I miss any homework? Or did you not check. It's fine if you didn't check, Ogie."

He's this sick, and he's worrying about homework? "I didn't check. Sorry, li'l bro."

He smiles. "That's fine." And all of a sudden, he starts breathing harder.

"Sam? What's wrong?" But he doesn't answer me. "Li'l bud, what's going on? Is it getting hard to breathe?" He nods.

"It… hurts…" he chokes out.

"Hey, what's going…?" I hear from the direction of the door. Apparently Milly just arrived… but I could honestly not care less about Milly right now. At the moment, Sam is the one that needs tending to.

In a few seconds, I see a doctor rush in, and he walks over to the other side of the bed, checking the computer. "It appears his heart rate is increasing. There's not much we can do, however. He's just a child, and anything we try could end up harming him more…"

I look up at the doctor, a gray wolf. "You're just gonna let him die, then?! He still has a life ahead of him, and you're just gonna let him go!"

"I'm sorry, but there isn't much else we can do. If we try anything else, we could—" He's cut off by a long beeping noise, and it takes me a second to register that it's coming from the computer. I look at it, and the number on it is… zero…

"No… No, no, no… Sam… Sam… You can't go, Sam…! I need you here!" I look at my little brother, and his eyes, are closed, thank goodness, but just as the computer says, he's not breathing… "Sammy, you can't leave me! You're all I've got! You're the only reason I haven't gone insane! Sammy! Please, come back! Sammy! Sammy!"

But I'm not dumb… I know that my little brother… the only one I had… is dead…

* * *

_Wasn't it sad? And it was very sudden, too. Now we definitely know that Sonic is, unfortunately, very emotionally scarred at this point. Well, I'm hoping to crank out the next chapter soon. Till then, auf wiedersehen!_

-Camobamo1

* * *

_Just a little while more until I get chapters five and six posted. I promise._ ^_^

-Tails Luv-er


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